It's times like these that I wish I wasn't an adult.

I wish there was someone who I could turn to and say, so what do we do now????


On November 17 Rocco had surgery to remove a mast cell tumor on his face. At that time they took chest x-rays and did blood work and determined that the cancer was confined to the facial tumor.

Last week hubby noticed that a little fat lump Rocco had on his side started to grow and was getting really hard. Also, Rocco was starting to lick at it which creates problems all on it's own.

Yesterday I took Rocco to the vet. They said they really needed to do a biopsy to see if it was another mast cell tumor. But, since he has a history of them, they needed to give him a shot of Benadryl because mast cells produce histamines and sometimes when disturbed will granulate and send the histamines out into the body. This can result in anaphylatic shock and death of the dog. They kept Roc for 2 hours yesterday to make sure this didn't happen.

The vet just called, it is another mast cell tumor. The choice I now face is what to do. We could have the tumor removed and have more blood work and x-rays done. Odds are good that if this tumor came up so quickly it's probably all over his body and removing the tumor may be pointless exercise. Also, he's 12 years old and really took the last surgery hard. Another one so soon could be even worse. The other option is to do nothing, put Rocco on a Prednisone regime, and let him go when he goes.

I'm really not sure which direction to go in. My immediate reaction is to have the surgery and see what happens. But is that the right thing to do?? One thing I swore I would never do is put my animals through things for me. I always want to do right by them. What's right. Mast cell is an incredibly aggressive form of cancer. If he had the tumor removed 2 months ago and another tumor has grown, it really doesn't look good for Roc. On the other hand, this could be it. We could remove it and he could live for another 5 years.

What do I do???? Someone tell me. I hope this doesn't sound shallow, but there is a monetary consideration. This surgery costs $1000 only to have him die a month or 2 later???? I just don't know??? All these thoughts running through my head........ UGH!!!!!!! I hate being a grownup!!!!!!!!

UPDATE: I just spoke to the vet. On Sunday we are going to do bloodwork and a chest x-ray so we can get a look at what's going on inside Rocco. Once we get those results then I will make the decision on the surgery. I feel much better. I hate making decisions where I don't have all the facts.